Dairy News
Farmers tap the NCDEX for cattlefeed at competitive prices
Tuesday, 26/06/2018
http://thedairytimes.com/farmers-tap-ncdex-cattlefeed-competitive-prices/
New Delhi, June 27, 2018: Buying stuff online at deep discounts is a fad not restricted to top cities but also with farmers in sleepy villages.
In a novel move, three Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) in Rajasthan and Gujarat have used Ncdex, a futures platform for hedging risk, to source inputs.
These FPOs have taken ‘buy’ position in cottonseed oilcake (cocud) on Ncdex at a lower price well ahead of the peak demand season. Last month, they took delivery of 20 tonnes of the oilcake and distributed it at a concessional rate to 600 farmers.
Aleen Mukherjee, Executive Vice-President, NCDEX, said: “Farmers buying from the exchange is a new trend and we are delighted they are using the platform differently.” NCDEX has connected 2.12 lakh farmers through 146 FPOs spread across 12 States, he said.
Better quality
FPOs aggregate agriculture produce from farmers and sell it on the exchange to hedge the price risk. In a role reversal, FPOs sourced quality cattlefeed at a cheaper price from NCDEX according to thehindubusinessline.com.
Jamwa Ramgarh Farmers’ Produce Company from Rajasthan bought 10 tonnes of cocud at ₹24 a kg and sold it to 200 farmers at their doorstep at ₹20 a kg. Toofan Singh Meena, Director, Jamwa Ramgarh Krishak, told BusinessLine that a team of members exploring opportunities to source quality inputs for farmers found cocud price in NCDEX cheaper by ₹4 a kg compared to the open market. They immediately locked in the price for 10 tonnes, he said.
The quality of cocud purchased was good unlike that sourced from open market that contains cotton threads and other impurities. With quality feed, farmers get more milk from the cattle and they have already ordered 20 tonnes more, he added.
Gujarat-based Girmala FPC and Parth FPC procured 10 tonnes each of cocud from Kadi and Akola to distribute among 400 farmers and are receiving repeat orders.
Bharat Patel, Chief Executive Officer, Girmala FPO, said cocud prices have already started firming up and are expected to stay strong for next three months as the oil crushing season has ended and demand for cocud is rising with onset of monsoon season.
“We intend to buy at least 20 tonnes a month from NCDEX regularly. Last time around we booked it at ₹1,237 a quintal on Ncdex and home delivered it to farmers at ₹1,600 when the market price was at ₹2000,” he said.
Since cocud is a low value commodity, the exchange does not insist on quality package and buyers need to incur additional repackaging cost for moving it to villages which do not have proper roads, he said.